San Francisco International Airport

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San Francisco International Airport


IATA: SFO – ICAO: KSFO – FAA: SFO
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		San Francisco Airport Commission
Serves		San Francisco
Location		San Mateo County (unincorporated)
Elevation AMSL		13 ft / 4 m
Coordinates		37°37′08″N, 122°22′30″W
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
10L/28R	11,870	3,618	Asphalt
10R/28L	10,602	3,231	Asphalt
1R/19L	8,648	2,636	Asphalt
1L/19R	7,500	2,286	Asphalt

FAA diagram of SFO

For the television series, see San Francisco International Airport (TV series).

San Francisco International Airport (IATA: SFO, ICAO: KSFO, FAA LID: SFO) is a major international airport located 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown San Francisco, California, United States, adjacent to the cities of Millbrae and San Bruno in unincorporated San Mateo County. The airport has flights to destinations throughout the Americas and is a major gateway to Europe, Asia, and Australasia-Oceania.

San Francisco International Airport is the largest airport in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is the second busiest airport in the state of California after Los Angeles International Airport. As of 2005, San Francisco International Airport is the fourteenth largest in the United States^[1] and the twenty-third largest airport in the world,^[2] in terms of passengers. It is a major hub of United Airlines and is Virgin America's principal base of operations.^[3]

The airport enjoys a connection to an adjacent freeway, U.S. Route 101, as well as having its own Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station adjoining one of its terminals. Interstate 380 intersects Highway 101 north of the airport, providing further connections to the region.

SFO has numerous passenger amenities, including a wide range of food and drink establishments, shopping, baggage storage, public showers, a medical clinic, and assistance for lost or stranded travelers and military personnel. The airport hosts the Louis A. Turpen Aviation Museum, the San Francisco Airport Commission Aviation Library, and both permanent and temporary art exhibitions in several places in the terminals. Public Wi-Fi is available throughout most of the terminal area, provided by T-Mobile for a fee.^[4]

The airport was first opened on May 7, 1927 on 150 acres (607,000 m²) of cow pasture. The land was leased from prominent local landowner Ogden L. Mills, (who in turn had leased it from his grandfather Darius O. Mills) and was named Mills Field Municipal Airport. It remained Mills Field until 1931, when it was renamed San Francisco Municipal Airport. "Municipal" was replaced by "International" in 1955.

The U.S. Weather Bureau began keeping weather observations at Mills Field in May 1927. The weather records have continued under the National Weather Service, which maintained the Bay Area forecast office in the airport's control tower building until forecasting was moved to Redwood City. Although not the official weather observation site for San Francisco (with the official site existing in Duboce Park), data from SFO's automated weather station often appears as belonging to "San Francisco" in media sources outside of the Bay Area.

Starting in 1935, Pan American World Airways used the facility as the terminal for its "China Clipper" flying boat service across the Pacific Ocean. Domestic flights did not begin en masse, however, until World War II, when Oakland International Airport was taken over by the military and its passenger flights were shifted to San Francisco.^[5]

After the war, United Airlines took up residence at SFO, using the Pan Am terminal for its flights to Hawaii and other U.S. cities. In 1954, the airport's Central Passenger Terminal opened for passenger service.^[6] Jet service to SFO began in the late 1950s: United built a large maintenance facility at San Francisco for its new Douglas DC-8s. In July 1959 the first jetway bridge was installed in the United States. In 1974, a new terminal was built for domestic flights, and the CPT became an international terminal (known today as Terminal 2).

In 1989, an airport master plan and associated Environmental Impact Report was prepared to guide expansion and development over the next two decades.^[7] During the economic boom of the 1990s and the dot-com boom, SFO became the sixth busiest international airport in the world. However, since 2001, when the economic boom times ended, SFO has fallen back out of the top twenty.^[2]

SFO has expanded continuously through the decades. Most recently, a new $1 billion international terminal opened in December 2000, replacing Terminal 2 as the international terminal.^[6] This new terminal contains a world-class aviation library and museum.^[8] A long-planned extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system to the airport opened on June 22, 2003, allowing passengers to board trains directly at the airport's international terminal bound for San Francisco or points in the East Bay.^[9] BART trains also offer a quick trip to the nearby Millbrae Station, where passengers can board Caltrain commuter rail trains bound for San Jose and the Peninsula and SamTrans bus service bound for the Peninsula; however, BART authorities have announced their intention to close the direct SFO-Millbrae route on January 1, 2008 ^[10]. In 2003, the AirTrain shuttle system opened, conveying passengers between terminals, parking lots, the BART station, and the rental car center on small automatic trains.

San Francisco International Airport at night

It is not uncommon for SFO to experience significant delays in adverse weather, when only one of the airport's four runways can be used a time, due to a lateral separation of only 750 feet between runways. Airport planners have floated proposals to extend the airport's runways further into San Francisco Bay in order to accommodate the next generation of super-jumbo aircraft. In order to expand further into the bay, the airport would be required by law to restore bay land elsewhere in the Bay Area to offset the fill. Such proposals have nevertheless met resistance with environmental groups, fearing damage to the habitat of animals living near the airport and bay water quality.

As such, SFO suffers from loss of service as many airlines, especially as low-cost carriers such as ATA Airlines increasingly shift service to the other two major Bay Area airports at Oakland and San Jose, which continue to expand for the time being. However, SFO has superior land connections compared to Oakland and San Jose, being directly connected to U.S. Route 101, Interstate 380, and the BART system.

However, recovery at SFO has been evident. Spirit Airlines began daily service to Detroit on May 25, 2006, however, the airline is not returning its seasonal service to Detroit in 2008. In addition, Qantas began service from Sydney in March 2006, and began service to Vancouver on June 14, 2006. United Airlines reinstated non-stop service to Seoul and Taipei on June 7, 2007.^[11] In addition, SFO has become the base of operations for start-up airline, Virgin America. At March 2007, Air China increased the frequency of the Beijing - San Francisco service from 5 times weekly to daily. Also Air China is to begin operations from Shanghai Pudong International Airport during March 2009. During the beginning of the summer season in 2006, low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines began operating flights to Los Angeles adding on to its existing service to Denver, service to LAX was then discontinued in July of 2007. On January 9, 2007, JetBlue Airways announced they will begin five non-stop flights to New York's JFK and Boston's Logan airports starting May 3.^[12] On February 9, 2007, Southwest Airlines announced their plans to resume serving San Francisco International Airport in the early fall of 2007,^[13] after having pulled out of the airport in May 2001 citing high costs and delays. Irish airline Aer Lingus announced commencing service to Dublin, Ireland beginning October 28, 2007 following the passage of the open skies treaty.

A global warming study unveiled in February 2007 revealed that much of SFO would be under water with only a one-meter rise in sea levels.^[14] In April 2007, SFO announced plans to introduce a registered traveler program that would allow travelers to speed through the TSA security checkpoint in about 30 seconds.^[15]

Baggage and passenger screening is operated by Covenant Aviation Security, a TSA contractor, nicknamed "Team SFO."

On October 4, 2007, an Airbus A380 jumbo jet make its first visit and test flight to the airport.^[16]^[17]

Also in October, Air Canada moved from Boarding Area B to Boarding Area E so that Southwest Airlines can have more gates for expanded service out of SFO, and provide improved connections to Star Alliance and codeshare partner United Airlines that operates in a boarding area that does not require exit and reentry through security checkpoints.

The short-lived television series "San Francisco International Airport" (1970) was set at the airport.
The climax of the Steve McQueen movie "Bullitt" was filmed at the airport.

San Francisco International Airport in the last rays of an April day

SFO was one of the first airports to implement a Fly Quiet Program which grades individual air carriers on their performance on noise abatement procedures while flying in and out of SFO. The Jon C. Long Fly Quiet Program is an initiative implemented by the Aircraft Noise Abatement Office to encourage individual airlines to operate as quietly as possible at SFO. The program promotes a participatory approach in complying with the noise abatement procedures.

SFO was also one of the first U.S. airports to conduct a residential sound abatement retrofitting program. Established by the FAA in the early 1980s, this program evaluated the cost effectiveness of reducing interior sound levels for homes in the vicinity of the airport, or more particularly homes within the 65 CNEL noise contour surface. The program made use of a noise computer model to predict improvement in specific residential interiors for a variety of different noise control strategies. This pilot program was conducted for a neighborhood in the city of South San Francisco, and success was achieved in all of the homes analyzed. The construction costs turned out to be modest, and the post-construction interior sound level tests confirmed the model predictions for noise abatement. To date over $137 million has been spent to insulate in excess of 15,000 homes throughout the neighboring cities of Daly City, Pacifica, San Bruno, and South San Francisco.^[18]

See also: Noise mitigation#Aircraft noise abatement and Aircraft noise

The airport is composed of four terminals, in which two (Terminals 1 and 3) are domestic, one is international, and the fourth (Terminal 2) is under renovation. Within the framework of the terminals, the airport is split into seven concourses, in which four (Boarding Areas B, C, E, and F) are domestic, two (Boarding Areas A and G) are international, and one (Boarding Area D) is unused. Originally named the South, Central, and North Terminals, the domestic terminals were renamed Terminals 1, 2, and 3, respectively, after the new international terminal opened.

Note: Flights to and from Canada (except for Qantas) depart from and arrive in the domestic terminals, because they clear U.S. Customs at their Canadian originating airports through a border preclearance arrangement. JetBlue Airways and Virgin America depart from International Terminal Boarding Area A and use Baggage Claim 12.

Terminal 1

Formerly known as the South Terminal, Terminal 1 consists of Boarding Area B and Boarding Area C. Terminal 1 used to have three boarding areas; one area (Rotunda A) was demolished, as it obstructed the path of several gates in Boarding Area A of the International Terminal.

Note: All Alaska Airlines domestic and Canadian flights depart and arrive at Terminal 1 Boarding Area B and all Alaska Airlines Mexican flights depart and arrive at International Terminal Boarding Area A.

Boarding Area B has 18 gates: 20-31, 32-32B, 33-36

AirTran Airways (Atlanta, Indianapolis [seasonal])
Alaska Airlines (Anchorage [seasonal], Los Angeles, Palm Springs, Portland (OR), Seattle/Tacoma, Vancouver)
- Horizon Air (Portland (OR))
Continental Airlines (Cleveland, Houston-Intercontinental, Newark)
Southwest Airlines (Chicago-Midway, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix [begins March 8], San Diego)
Sun Country Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
US Airways (Charlotte, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh)
- US Airways Express operated by Mesa Airlines (Phoenix)

Interior of Boarding Area C

Note: All Northwest Airlines domestic flights depart from Terminal 1 Boarding Area C and all Northwest international flights depart and arrive at International Terminal Boarding Area A.

Boarding Area C has nine gates: 40-48

Delta Air Lines (Atlanta, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky, Honolulu [seasonal], New York-JFK, Salt Lake City)
- Delta Connection operated by ExpressJet Airlines (Los Angeles)
- Delta Connection operated by SkyWest (Salt Lake City)
Frontier Airlines (Denver)
Hawaiian Airlines (Honolulu)
Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Honolulu, Indianapolis [seasonal], Memphis [seasonal], Minneapolis/St. Paul)

Formerly known as the Central Terminal, in 1974 it became known as the International Terminal. Terminal 2 consists of Boarding Area D, which formerly included gates 50-59. However, when the current international terminal opened in 2000, Terminal 2 was closed; it is currently undergoing indefinite renovation and serves as a walkway between Terminal 1 and Terminal 3. The terminal will replace Rotunda A once renovation is complete. The SFO Medical Clinic is located on the Arrivals/Baggage Claim level (lower level).

Closed pending renovation or reconstruction - circular lounges are in the process of being demolished in late 2006 and early 2007.

When renovations are complete, Virgin America may likely move to Boarding Area D.^[19]

SFO spokesperson Mike McCarron said that it will release bid-ready guidelines to contractors in about 90 days; the remodel will take approximately 30 months to complete.^[20] Simultaneously, Southwest Airlines CEO, Gary Kelly announced that it may want up to 100 aircraft movements per day at SFO within five years. The terminal can accommodate up to 14 gates.^[21]

Terminal 3

Formerly known as the North Terminal, Terminal 3 is made up of Boarding Area E and Boarding Area F. This terminal is utilized by United Airlines, Air Canada, Midwest Airlines and American Airlines, chiefly by United.

Boarding Area E has 13 gates: 60-60A, 61, 62A-B, 63, 64-64A, 65-65A, 66-66A, 67

Air Canada (Calgary, Montréal, Toronto-Pearson, Vancouver)
American Airlines (Boston, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-JFK, St. Louis)
- American Eagle (Orange County)
Midwest Airlines (Kansas City, Milwaukee [seasonal])

Note: All United Airlines domestic and Canadian flights depart from Terminal 3 Boarding Area F and all United international flights depart and arrive at International Terminal Boarding Area G.

Boarding Area F has 25 gates, 68-72, 73-73A, 74-76, 77-77A, 78-86, 87-87A, 88-90.

United Airlines (Anchorage [seasonal], Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Boise, Boston, Burbank, Chicago-O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Honolulu, Houston-Intercontinental, Kahului, Kona, Lihue, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Newark, Orange County, Orlando, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), Reno/Tahoe, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, Seattle/Tacoma, Toronto-Pearson, Vail/Eagle [seasonal], Vancouver, Washington-Dulles)
- Ted operated by United Airlines (Las Vegas, Phoenix)
- United Express operated by SkyWest (Albuquerque, Aspen [seasonal], Bakersfield, Billings [seasonal], Boise, Bozeman [seasonal], Burbank, Calgary, Chico, Colorado Springs, Crescent City, Edmonton, Eugene, Eureka, Fresno, Medford, Modesto, Monterey, Ontario, Orange County, Palmdale, Palm Springs, Redding, Redmond/Bend, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tucson)

International Terminal

Exterior view of the International Terminal

Interior view of the International Terminal

SFO's international terminal, which opened in December 2000, is the largest international terminal in North America, and is the largest building in the world built on base isolators to protect against earthquakes.^[22] It replaced Terminal 2, which served as SFO's international terminal until 2000. The boarding areas have two levels, with shops and restaurants on the upper level and departure lounges on the lower level. Instead of the customary fast-food chains found at many other airports across the country, all restaurants in the International Terminal are leading restaurants in the Bay Area that have opened up fast-food versions of their establishments. SFO planners attempted to make the airport a destination in and of itself, not just for travelers that are passing through.^[23] The international terminal is a common use facility, with all gates and all ticketing areas shared among the international airliners. All international arrivals and departures are handled here (except flights from cities with customs preclearance).

The airport BART station is also located in this terminal, at the garage leading to Boarding Area G.

The International Terminal currently has 28 gates, with a few added recently after Rotunda A in Terminal 1 was demolished. All the gates in this terminal have two jetway bridges with the exception of gate A2, which only has one jetway. Six of these gates are specifically designed for the Airbus A380, making SFO one of the first airports in the world with such gates when it was constructed in 2000.^[24]

For lack of space, the terminal was constructed on top of the airport's main access road at enormous expense; the advantage of this location was that it completed a continuous "ring" of terminals around the airport's main loading/unloading loop. The disadvantage was that the terminal required its own elaborate set of ramps to connect it with Highway 101.

The design and construction of the international terminal is owed to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Del Campo & Maru Architects, Michael Willis Associates (main terminal building), Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum (Boarding Area G) & Gerson/Overstreet Architects (Boarding Area A).^[22] The contracts were awarded after an architectural design competition.

If all gates in an airlines' designated international boarding area are full, passengers will board or deplane from the opposite international boarding area.

Despite the terminal's name, JetBlue Airways and Virgin America serve domestic destinations using this terminal from Boarding Area A. Passengers arriving on domestic and pre-cleared Canadian flights into the International Terminal claim their baggage in a separate area outside of customs and immigrations.

Boarding Area A is located on the south side of the terminal, next to Boarding Area B. All SkyTeam, Oneworld, and non-aligned international flights with the exception of those operated by Asiana and EVA Air operate from Boarding Area A.

Boarding Area A has 13 gates: A1-A10, A11-A11A, A12

Aer Lingus (Dublin)
Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
Alaska Airlines (Cancún [seasonal], Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo, Los Cabos, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta)
Asiana Airlines (Seoul-Incheon)
British Airways (London-Heathrow)
Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
Japan Airlines (Tokyo-Narita)
JetBlue Airways (Boston, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City)
Jet Airways (Delhi, Mumbai, Shanghai-Pudong) [begins February 2008]
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
Korean Air (Seoul-Incheon)
Mexicana (Guadalajara, Mexico City, Morelia)
Northwest Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Tokyo-Narita)
Philippine Airlines (Manila)
Qantas (Melbourne, Sydney, Vancouver [ends January 27])
TACA (San Salvador)
Virgin America (Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, San Diego [begins February 12], Seattle/Tacoma [begins March 18], Washington-Dulles)
Virgin Atlantic Airways (London-Heathrow)

Boarding Area G is located on the north side of the terminal, next to Boarding Area F. All international Star Alliance members (except Asiana and Air Canada) use Boarding Area G. EVA Air is the only non-Star Alliance member that uses Boarding Area G.

Boarding Area G has 15 gates: G91, G92-G92A, G93-G98, G99-G99A, G100, G101-G101A, G102

Air China (Beijing, Shanghai-Pudong [begins March 2009][3])
Air New Zealand (Auckland)
All Nippon Airways (Tokyo-Narita)
EVA Air (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
Lufthansa (Frankfurt, Munich)
Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen) [begins October 2008][4]
Singapore Airlines (Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon, Singapore)
United Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing, Cancún, Frankfurt, Guangzhou [begins June 18], Hong Kong, London-Heathrow, Mexico City, Nagoya-Centrair, Osaka-Kansai, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Sydney, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan, Tokyo-Narita)
- Ted operated by United Airlines (Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta)

Main article: AirTrain (SFO)

AirTrain is the airport's people-mover system. Fully automated and free of charge, it connects all four terminals, the two international terminal garages, and the airport's Rental Car Center a mile away. AirTrain is the only means of accessing the Rental Car Center.^[25]

Main article: San Francisco International Airport (BART station)

The San Francisco International Airport BART station, located in Parking Garage G of the International Terminal, is the only direct rail link between the airport, the city of San Francisco, and the general Bay Area. The station is served by the Dublin/Pleasanton - SFO/Millbrae Line, and the station will be served by the Pittsburg/Bay Point – SFO line starting on January 1, 2008. Tickets from the airport range from $1.50 (to Millbrae) to $5.15 (downtown San Francisco), and more for the East Bay. BART also serves as a connection to Caltrain, via a short 5-minute trip from the airport to the Millbrae Station, but this will change in January 2008 when direct service to Millbrae Station & Caltrain will require an extra 5-10 minutes to transfer at the San Bruno station (except during the first & last hours of BART service each day). [5]

The San Francisco Municipal Railway, San Francisco's transit agency, does not provide service to the airport. However, SamTrans, San Mateo County's transit agency, does, with three lines (292, 397, and KX) connecting Terminal 2, Terminal 3, and the International Terminal to San Francisco and the Peninsula down to Palo Alto.

Numerous door-to-door van, airporter, limousine, hotel courtesy, and charter operators service the airport. Taxis, along with the aforementioned services, stop at the center island transportation island on the arrivals/baggage claim level of the airport.

In addition, China Airlines operates bus services to Lion Food Center 1838 North Milpitas Boulevard in Milpitas and Marina Food at 10122 Bandley Drive in Cupertino to its customers. ^[26]

The airport is located on U.S. Highway 101, 13 miles (21 km) south of downtown San Francisco. It is near the US 101 interchange with Interstate 380, a short freeway that connects US 101 with Interstate 280.

The airport provides both short-term and long-term parking facilities.

BART passengers can park long-term at all stations south of Daly City BART Station (except the SFO BART station itself), and various East Bay BART stations as well, but a permit must be purchased in advance from the BART website. After January 1, 2008, San Bruno will be the closest BART station to SFO at which one can park multiple days and ride nonstop to enter SFO. Parking permits must be purchased in advance. [6]

For arriving passengers who need to reach the Rental Car Center, AirTrain is the only means of getting there.[7]

Taxis depart from designated taxi zones located at the roadway center islands, on the Arrivals/Baggage Claim Level of all terminals. ^[27]

On December 24, 1964, Flying Tiger Line Flight 282, a cargo aircraft departing for New York City, crashed in the hills west of the airport, killing all 3 crewmembers aboard.^[28]

On July 30, 1971, Pan Am Flight 845, a Boeing 747 (registration: N747PA, name: Clipper America), struck navigational aids at the end of runway 1R on takeoff for Tokyo. The aircraft's landing gear was damaged, and the flight proceeded out over the Pacific Ocean to dump fuel in order to reduce weight for an emergency landing. Emergency services were deployed at the airport, and the plane returned and landed on runway 28R, using only the landing gear on one side of the aircraft. As the gear partially collapsed, the aircraft skidded into the dirt area next to the runway and came to a stop, but there was no fire. The aircraft was successfully evacuated using emergency slides. There were no fatalities among the 218 passengers and crew aboard, but there were a number of injuries, some serious. An investigation determined the cause of the accident to be erroneous information from the flight dispatcher to the crew regarding weight and runway length.^[29]

On February 19, 1985, China Airlines Flight 006, en route from Taipei to Los Angeles, lost power over the Pacific in one of its four engines. The pilots of the Boeing 747SP aircraft failed to trim the plane to counteract the asymmetric thrust condition, despite having several minutes to do so. The aircraft eventually rolled over and dived a total 30,000 feet before being brought under control and diverted to SFO.

On June 28, 1998, United Airlines Flight 863 cleared nearby San Bruno Mountain by only 100 feet after a pilot erred in correcting for a failed engine during takeoff. ^[30]

On September 11, 2001, United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked and crashed in Shanksville, PA while enroute to SFO.